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In his youth, he was an ardent follower of Fidel Castro and the
Cuban
Revolution. He was among the first generation of journalists to
graduate after the triumph of the Revolution. From 1973-1976 he was
the chief correspondent of the official Cuban press in Moscow. He also served as
chairman of the pro-regime National Union of Writers and Artists.
He was then known as "the Poet of the Revolution", and associated
with the major cultural figures of communist Cuba.

In 1989, he left the National Union of Writers and Artists, and
on 2 June 1991, he signed the so-called "letter of the 10
intellectuals", a petition asking for the liberation of political
prisoners and holding of democratic elections. Since then, Rivero
has been an outcast in Cuban society. In 1995, he founded Cuba
Press, and became active in the movement of independent journalism,
publishing his works in newspapers in the US and other countries.

In 2003, as a part of the "Black Spring" crackdown on
dissidents, Rivero was charged with "acting against Cuban
independence and attempting to divide Cuban territorial unity", as
well as with writing "against the government", organizing
"subversive meetings" at his home, and collaborating with US
diplomat James
Cason.[1] Rivero
was convicted and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. He spent
his first 11 months in a tiny one-man cell with no windows or any
contact to the outside world. The arrest of Rivero was later
defended by Cuban writer and culture minister Abel Prieto who argued
that Rivero "was not arrested for his views, but for receiving US
funding for his collaboration with a country that has besieged our
island." [2] Rivero has
asserted, in prison interrogations as well as in public, that all
funds received consisted of fees for his articles, paid by the
publishing media, not by governments or political
organizations.